The Opening Ceremony of the Olympics--OOH LA LA!

It was entertaining. We just got in to Strasbourg late this afternoon, and had dinner close to the apartment we’re renting. I got back just in time to see the boat with the USA Olympians, then watched from there. It rained while we were at dinner, but stopped before we had to walk back to our place. Boy, Paris got wet!

After the ceremony ended, France 2 TV did a recap, and interviewed people around Paris, all with Blue-White-Red tricolor stripes painted on their cheeks. The TV announcers were many of the same people who’d done analysis during the Tour de France in the previous 3 weeks.

I agree Lindy, I watched it all! it was fantastic. France put on a massive show, I thought. Loved the weaving of history, music, art, fashion, sports, and highlights of Paris while showcasing the athletes. Good for France. Can't wait to watch the competition....

Paris should be SO proud of these opening ceremonies which were Magnifique!! I loved all of it, so many arts represented. I cried when Celine sang, but I also LOVED Lady Gaga....So much, so beautiful. It was overwhelming. And to hear the bells of Notre Dame ring for the first time since the fire moved me to tears.

I taped it all. Will have to watch tomorrow as we just got home. Can’t wait!

The horse was on a barge towed by a boat -- the boat was far enough ahead and not lit that it wasn't obvious since it was dark and the horse was lighted by big floodlights on the barge. It was really fabulous. And the Caldron was perfect -- a nod to Montgolfier. Loved the whole thing.

Watched it with my wife and granddaughter, who just returned from teaching in Paris during the past school year. What a superb show! Brought tears to all our eyes.
I started to say that the only thing better would have been to actually be in Paris to see it, but we would not have seen everything that was stitched into the TV production. (Still haven't solved that two places at the same time thing.)

My only complaint is the terrible NBC coverage. WE didn't know WHO was being showcased most of the time; they didn't identify the landmarks -- there was a bit with the parkour guy on the roof of the Orsay and then he crashes into the clock room and not a word about the museum. True of other sites.

The Peacock Tour du France coverage was also awful. They know where the race goes -- the Olympic committee surely had a script that identified people and places -- jsut really amateurish TV coverage of a wonderful show.

I’m currently in Paris for the Olympics and watched the Opening Ceremony in a cafe with lots of locals. There was applause after every sequence and when the flame was about to be lit everyone, including the wait staff, was transfixed at the screen. It was great!
Now of to see some sport!

janettravels44 the BBC commentary was no better. No idea of french culture in the C20th, let alone the 21st.

And as sports commentators they should have done better than saying "no doubt she is someone important" while failing to identify Nadia Comâneci

French commentators stayed discreet, calm, gave relevant information, no chatter.

If you can't stand the NBC coverage, try getting a VPN and watch on France 2 or France 3. No commercials during the events, no tear jerk bios concentrating on one athlete while ignoring others.

And as sports commentators they should have done better than saying "no doubt she is someone important" while failing to identify Nadia Comâneci

Good grief !!!!

The American coverage did get Nadia right -- but so many of people and places were not identified. It was amateur hour.

actually be in Paris to see it, but we would not have seen everything that was stitched into the TV production. (Still haven't solved that two places at the same time thing.)

Bob, then there are the surfer athletes that got shown briefly last night (in France), who are competing in, of all places, Tahiti! Three places at once would be even tougher.

I guess Biarritz, closer to Paris, didn’t make the cut for holding surfing. Maybe too expensive to stage the competition there, or maybe it would just interfere with well-heeled vacationers.

Cyn. Biarritz can be huge in winter, but the summer surf is beginner level. Tahiti is reliably spectactular

Cyn, It's a surf competition, so one needs good waves! Biarritz in the summer wouldn't be it.

I was very disappointed with the opening ceremonies. NBC commentators talking over it was bad, sadly, that wasn't the worst of it. The entire program was sloppy, disjointed, and poorly directed. Since NBC was borrowing the television feed, I don't believe local coverage would have solved the issues. From a strictly artistic perspective, I felt it was a miss. Maybe I just had too high of expectations of French artistic talent?

That's just the production; I'm not commenting on the politics. I will say I appreciated when China focused on their culture, not politics, in Beijing (China's production far eclipsed this too). France has such amazing culture and history, I was disappointed they neglected to make that their central focus.

I watch each year’s TdF, sometimes kilometer by kilometer for all 21 stages. (Yes I waste a lot of my summer but I love it.) And I will give credit to NBC’s coverage of the event. Sure they can’t get everything right during the TdF, but overall, it is satisfactory coverage for knowledgeable fans of the peloton.

This coverage, however, was astonishingly unprofessional. It’s as though NBC found out Monday, “Hey did anyone know we have the Olympics contract again this year?” I imagine the execs said “Who should emcee? Mike does a good job at the Olympics, and he’s really good at golf, so let’s put him on with Peyton Manning. He’s a really good quarterback who knows a lot about football — and New Orleans— which was French. And then Kelly Clarkson, I know she’ll be super excited to be there and add lots of “incredible” as an adjective about the singing. Throw two people on a bridge to spot the barges.” “Which bridge?” “Well, not that fancy one, but one of the others. Doesn’t really matter which, Paris has got a lot of them.” Wow! I miss Phil and Bob and the crew in Stamford and it’s only been five day the the Tour ended.

My understanding from reading the perspectives of many French is that their culture and history were the underlying themes. Many non French may not have understood the themes in sufficient depth. Incorrect conclusions were also drawn from some of the artistry.

I've never watched the Tour de France but many here advocate for watching because of the lovely small villages and French scenery. Hopefully next year's coverage will be better. Coverage on tv of foreign countries and sights is one of the ways I decide where I want to go, what I want to see. Fortunately, I know many of the sights shown in this year's Olympics, but for those who don't, they're missing out. Perhaps better scripts will be provided for the commentators for the upcoming events and, especially, for the closing ceremony. They have time to up their game.

Would have been better with this: https://youtu.be/aT8ZoRLiJf0?si=aX0ttXsBnXYUaxUc

Claire,

I did think it was clever to disguise a character so that many people (some videotaped in advance, others live) could cross Paris as "one individual". The idea was good. The parkour and ziplining were also good. The direction didn't execute the concept well. It became disjointed. Instead of a continuous storyline, the character popped in and out and lacked continuity.

I didn't recognize the character as a French historical character. A search suggests the character is a nod to "Assassin's Creed". Turns out Ubisoft is a French game company. Assassins are historical, they aren't historically or culturally French. If it had been directed better and used an actual French historical character (perhaps Joan of Arc, wearing a helmet), it could have been brilliant.

Maybe I missed other cultural themes? I've always considered Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite to be the French national motto. During the opening games, the theme was Liberte, Egalite, Sororite (plus a couple other added terms). Fraternite, in French, isn't (and never has been) intended to be exclusively male. Sororite is exclusively female. To me this seems to be a specific political choice and not related to French history or culture.

This is from Vero who is a Rick Steves former colleague, I believe.
Paris Opening Ceremony: How a LOT got lost in translation
Behold the Opening Ceremony that will keep them talking for a long time!

VÉRONIQUE SAVOYE
JUL 28, 2024
"Bonjour, c’est Véro.

I am currently traveling around the United States on a well-deserved vacation. This means I got to watch the much-touted opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games with a short delay while on a road trip between Chicago and Minneapolis. I watched (and read) a lot early this morning after I woke up at the crack of dawn. Merci, le jetlag!

I found a story on Substack defending France’s creative yet controversial choices.

While referring to Céline Dion’s widely praised rendition of Edith Piaf’s iconic “Hymne à l’Amour” the author confesses he was deeply moved by Dion’s masterful performance, but adds: “the title of the song, the lyrics… I had no clue.”
This got me thinking.
Learning cultural codes involves a multi-layered approach
When exploring a foreign culture, first comes the obvious, the iconic, the stereotypical. That information is everywhere. Take France for example. How many articles or social media posts claim to understand French culture yet stick doggedly to soundbites and rehashed topics?

That first level could be named the Easy Level. Learning is enjoyable enough. Absorbing the information won’t give you a headache.

During the opening ceremony some international viewers (it’s rumored over 2 billion people watched the show worldwide) noticed commentators from their homeland appeared unprepared as the lengthy event unfolded. From long minutes of silence to obsessive “Wow’s!” journalists’ comments were no help when trying to understand some of the carefully orchestrated and choreographed “tableaux.”

They simply had no clue, those professionals. Maybe they hadn’t done their homework. Maybe they thought they didn’t need a local expert by their side. Maybe they were convinced they knew Paris (and France) well enough to pull it off.

Wow, indeed.

As it turns out they were thrown a big curve ball by Thomas Jolly, a French actor and stage director, who planned and directed the Olympic Games extravaganza.

The show surprised and dazzled. It was also filled with many French historical, cultural, political references some easier to grasp than others.
On July 26 the French kept the world on its toes for over three hours. Paris demanded our attention and never let us breathe.
“Wink. Wink. Wink” she seemed to say as each of the 12 “tableaux” unfolded. — “Did you get this? Do you remember that?”

A lot was lost on international audiences (and foreign TV commentators!) A lot was lost on French natives too. My parents, both in their 80s, had no idea who some of the performers were and raised an eyebrow now and then I am certain.
In spite of the pelting rain the show went on.
Not that viewers minded. Paris and its iconic landmarks provided a magical backdrop quand même. Not matter what.
Ah, Paris!"
While I greatly enjoyed the Opening Ceremony, I would have enjoyed it so much more if cultural references had been explained at the appropriate times, the buildings named as well as the bridges even though I knew most of them. The announcers needed scripts. I think the announcers must have felt rather empty handed. Thank you, Vero.

Travel Boss, I watched the Ceremony on our national broadcaster CBC. They provided lots of information about the themes, including that there were 12 in total; although the 3 you mention are part of the core of France, 9 more were added to broaden the focus on historical and cultural reference points. The Sorority theme included statues of significant women in France (historical and otherwise) and the statues are to remain in place to help balance out the over representation of male historical figures and under representation of female.

For an explanation of some of the "hidden" references in the opening ceremony show you can read this article (in English version).

https://www.sortiraparis.com/en/news/olympic-games-paris-2024/articles/317462-olympic-games-2024-opening-ceremony-explanation-of-cultural-references-and-winks

There are many others who are currently the subject of battles between experts and specialists in the French press.

So it doesn't matter at all to think that because you're not French you can't understand everything.

It is also mentioned that NBC and Moroccan television would have censored some sequences, including that of the well-known French singer Philippe Katerine, almost naked and all in blue, who sang "simply naked".

If it's true, here is the sequence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSUD-KCve8o

As a comment about this video says "This is the moment in all of human history, when the most people at once, around all of the world, wondered what the hell is going on..." :))

There is also controversy about the figures behind the singer (including some drag queens) which could be inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's painting "The Last Supper"

Regarding the Philippe Katerine performance, a couple thoughts:

• As far as “nakedness,” he had a Speedo-type brief, although it was the same blue as his body paint. As such, along with the fruit strands, he was wearing more than the male swimmers back in the Mark Spitz era, who got lots of airtime in America. BTW, a brief shot of Dr. Spitz was shown during the Olympic Games flashback sequence at the very end of the airing in France, which showed a surprising amount of past USA athletes and American flags.

• He really looked more like a big, live Smurf, except he was wearing a crown of fruit on his head. Actual Smurfs are from neighbor Belgium, but they wear Phrygian caps, which are the mascots of these Paris olympics. OK, most Smurfs wear white ones (only Papa Smurf wears one that’s red), but there’s a “hidden” tie-in somewhere there, non?

I don’t understand why people think the scene was a reference to “ The Last Supper”? Di Vinci was Italian ( I know he spent the last 3 years in Amboise), it was painted in Italy and it’s still in Italy.

The only religions referenced were Greek, Roman and Celtic gods, what we call mythology, but those populations called religion.
The organizers did not reference any currently practiced religions. Any assumptions are coming from the viewer's personal background.
Naked: the rest of the song is that when everyone is equal, we'll be naked. Besides that, once again, this displays the difference in body acceptance between different cultures. Most Europeans cultures are comfortable with the body. I remember the first time my five year old went to a topless beach near his aunt's house near Menton. He liked it.

Finally, I've watched twice on French TV with no commercials but very brief, discreet, informative commentary from offscreen presenters. We still have some mysteries, more age-related than French knowledge-based, it took a bit long at the end, but that was past our bedtime here in France. This program dug deep down into French secular culture, so partnered with the fractured, uninformative NBC presentation, I can see how this could leave people misinformed.

Edit: to Mr E's link below-- the organizers' statement doesn't say it was the Last Supper. It says they are sorry some people were upset. They did not apologize for a Last Supper. They apologized that people got upset. Again, in the eye of the beholder.
The rest of the article cites quips from various publications and gives a little about French secularism.
The organizers did not mock any currently practiced French religion despite a history of official secularism. I'll listen to their statement directly.

Huh? https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/28/paris-olympics-organisers-apologise-to-christians-for-last-supper-parody

Here is their statement from the same source, the Guardian, with translation. It sums up the whole Opening Ceremony, in fact.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&q=paris+organizers+apology+for+banquet#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:61e5d063,vid:JltE_BRx7aM,st:0

Thanks to the opening Ceremony of the Olympics, I am now familiar with Le Festin des Dieux ("The Feast of the Gods"). Not every painting of a meal at a long table is of The Last Supper.

Here’s what Thomas Jolly said on a TV interview:
Ce n'est pas mon inspiration", rétorque Thomas Jolly, qui informe qu'il souhaitait faire un clin d'œil aux repas des dieux de la Grèce antique, avec un Philippe Katerine brimé en Dionysos. "L'idée était plutôt de faire une grande fête païenne, reliée aux dieux de l'Olympe… Olympe… Olympisme", a lancé le metteur en scène. "Je crois que c'était assez clair : il y a Dionysos qui arrive sur cette table, (...) parce qu'il est d'abord le dieu de la mythologie grecque de la fête ; dieu du vin, qui est un des fleurons de la France", a-t-il poursuivi.

You’ll need to translate.

Watching The Olympics has made me want to visit Paris. I take one cruise a year and the excursions to Paris from Le Havre are too difficult and do not offer enough time in Paris. Guess that i will have to do a land tour.

I loved the Opening Ceremony but half of the viewers think that it was the worst Opening Ceremony ever while the other half think it was the best. I just enjoyed it. and watched it twice.

Worst is a limiting term. I'm not sure it was the worst. Maybe the most dogmatic since Berlin 1936? Jolly said he was trying to convey an inclusive theme - then recites a list of LBGTQ+ examples of that theme. I don't believe I misunderstood the program; I felt it conveyed exactly what Jolly listed. I just hoped for something that conveyed French culture and history rather than Jolly's personal political dogma.

I haven't noticed anyone mentioning the presentation of the Statue of Liberty. At one point, there were illustrations above and below the video. One was the Statue of Liberty. It looked like it was sinking in either water or mud, and her face was bruised and cut up. I'm not nationalistic enough to take offense, but I wondered what was Jolly's intent, if not to give offense? Jolly said his point was not to shock or offend, but is he really surprised or just not being honest about his intent?

Hey folks, please avoid political commentary. That's a quick way for us to pull this thread down.

Does anyone know where the new statues of females are being placed in Paris? I'll return in early January and want to add that route to my itinerary. More to research as I don't know who or how many there are.

The mayor of Paris said that she would like to keep the statues and install them in Paris but added that it is a decision that does not depend solely on her.

In the meantime you can find all the information on these statues here:

https://www.outlookindia.com/sports/others/paris-olympics-2024-opening-ceremony-know-statues-of-french-history-heroines-emerged-at-the-seine

According to the International Olympic Committie the goals of the Olympics are:

• Striving for excellence and encouraging people to be the best they can be.
• Demonstrating respect in many different manners: respect towards yourself, the rules, your opponents, the environment, the public, etc.
• Celebrating friendship, which is quite unique to the Olympic Games – an event that brings people together every few years.

Ask yourself if the opening ceremony elevated those goals, if the answer is yes, then the ceremony was a sucess for the IOC.

I would presume that one of the reasons that Paris and France wanted to host the Olympics was to have an opportunity to showcase all that is good and special about Paris and France, its current culture and the history that created that culture. If the the opening ceremony did that, then it was a sucess for the Parisians and the French.

Thank you for the article link, JoLui.

That's not my inspiration,” retorts Thomas Jolly, who informs us that he wanted to make a nod to the meals of the ancient Greek gods, with Philippe Katerine bullied into playing Dionysus. “The idea was rather to make a great pagan feast, linked to the gods of Olympus... Olympus... Olympism,” the director quipped. “I think it was pretty clear: there's Dionysus arriving on this table, (...) because he's first and foremost the Greek mythological god of celebration; god of wine, which is one of France's jewels,” he continued.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

What Bets posted in French.

Not a bad translation, but brimé was the wrong word to begin with because Philippe Katerine jumped at the opportunity and even came up with the painted costume idea himself. I listened to him speaking to French media over the weekend.